Mark 2:16-17
And the scribes of the Pharisees, when they saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, said to his disciples, "Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?" And when Jesus heard it, he said to them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners."
I'm pretty sure everyone who has ever had a job has watched as their wages were shrunk by the mandated tax withdrawals. And so, no doubt they know what a tax collector is, or at least what they represent, but what is a sinner?
From the perspective of those who are going around condemning people, by their reckoning they are people who have adopted publicly immoral lifestyles. They are socially and religiously unacceptable by the understanding of these religious leaders.
But why are they "unacceptable"?
By my observation, if Jesus desires to move certain people with a new work of his Holy Spirit, he's often working outside the box created by the standardized, or organized religions and their doctrines. My experience is that God is a God of order, but he does not always follow specific patterns only. He's not always following the grooves left behind by the wagon wheels of previous passages. Sometimes he floods the river and overflows the banks.
Here we have Jesus' reinterpretation of God’s grace. He extends it to many, not just to a select few who believe they deserve it. That said, he isn't teaching a universal standard for acceptance of all people. In order to see it that way you'd have to take this movement of the Holy Spirit out of the context of the entire gospel writings and ignore Jesus' words about repentance and obedience to his commands.
Jesus spent a considerable amount of time and energy combatting the Pharisees. And I find this interesting.
Why?
What's so special about Jesus' relationship with the Pharisees?
Think about this, Jesus is often confronted by Scribes, Sadducees, and Pharisees. Sometimes all at once, but most times it's the Pharisees alone. I think this is because theologically, Jesus and the Sadducees were miles apart, because they distanced themselves from the scriptures, but the Pharisees were much closer to Jesus' ultimate concerns because they always attempted to guard the scriptures from attack. Where the Pharisees part company with Jesus is in their interpretations and applications which were largely attempting to build a fence around the scriptures. They were all about segregation. Separatism. They wanted to divide God's Grace into degrees and categories of people. So, this group of Pharisees, when they saw Jesus eating with sinners and tax collectors, they were appalled.
Jesus hears their grumbling about his dinner party, and he offers a well-known proverb as a reply to their concerns.
"Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick." (Mark 2:17)
I always want to understand the positions of my fellow spiritual people. It's in my nature to examine and interpret the things people believe about God and his words. I believe the Holy Spirit has gifted me with a word from God (aka wisdom) and a discerning mind to interpret those things. I prayed for these things and I believe he has answered that prayer in the affirmative. Along with these gifts He's given me a heart for exhortation. And that's where controversy often tends to crop up.
The problem with the gift of exhortation is in the wrong hands it can become a negative influence.
The Pharisees strove to be as separate from sin as humanly possible. They suffered from Separation Anxiety. Unfortunately what they really did was invent new sins in all their attempts at guarding against them. They are in error because of hypocrisy and legalism. With no love in their hearts for God or his people, they stand as a pretense before God and man. They weren't trying to heal spiritual sickness; they were trying to condemn and separate themselves from the sick.
Jesus on the other hand saw separation entirely differently. He doesn't see himself as a "doctor of the law", he's not a lawyer. He sees himself as a physician. And as a physician he cannot treat his patients without being among them.
Jesus never engaged in their sins. Being around them didn't expose him to infection. He was tempted like any of us are tempted, but he never sinned. And I think it is in this where the Pharisees fail to understand why Jesus was having dinner with tax collectors and sinners. The Pharisees feared the uncleanliness of others, and their own sinful nature. Their wicked spirits constantly overshadowed them. Like a great and heavy burden, they carried their sinful ways around with them in a trap to contain them. And they feared they'd surrender to them if they ever released them from their dogmatic programs.
Jesus didn't have that burden, and he worked to help those who believed in Him, and those who obeyed his teachings, to release their burdens by putting them upon him. Though he died for our sins, he never participated in our sins, and so, he can carry all our burdens. But more than that, he doesn't carry them around looking to beat us over the head with them anytime we step out of line. He removes them completely.
Psalm 103:12
He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west.
Hebrews 4:16
"So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most."
If Jesus were a Pharisee, he'd be the truest of them all. It's a shame really because they had the right idea but the wrong methodology. Not all Pharisees ended poorly however, some of the Pharisees became Christians, they even became champions of the gospel. Paul, the Apostle is probably most notable in this regard. Jesus saw the Pharisees as sinners who needed a physician as well. Paul needed an eye doctor, so Jesus cured his blindness and showed him all that he needed to do for His kingdom. And the wretched ones, the reformed Pharisees who come to Jesus in repentance, are often the ones who work tirelessly to preserve the Word of God and the genuine faith of all who love God.
What Jesus pointed out to these Pharisees was that they needed a physician, but he couldn't help them until they realized they needed Him. As long as they thought they were healthy without him, as long as they leaned upon their own remedies, he couldn't help them. He was properly using the spiritual gift of exhortation, but it still got him in trouble with the authorities. In Jesus' estimation, we are all sinners who have fallen short of the glory of God. But the Pharisees couldn't admit to that reality. If they did they'd have to admit they were unclean. And by virtue of their religion they'd be forced to ritually cleanse themselves constantly. They'd step out of the confessional and turn right back around and go back in again. But they didn't see themselves in that way.
"I'm not broken! I'm not a sinner! I don't need to be made well!"
Have you ever noticed not one Pharisee ever comes to Jesus for healing of himself? At least not that is recorded in the gospels. For the most part The chief priests, the Scribes, the Sadducees, and the Pharisees were all far too indignant about Jesus' wonderful works to think about asking him for a personal treatment. They didn't know they were sick. They couldn't see their sin, or they didn't want to know.
I do think they did know their sins, how could they not? I know my sins. They aren't hidden from me. I know I'm a sinner. And maybe they did too. Maybe they were exposed for their sins and temptations when Jesus wrote in the dust of the ground with his finger when they were trying to stone a known sinner to death. Maybe that's why they dropped their stones and walked away.
Jesus hung around with sinners who weren't hiding their shame behind hypocrisy. It's impossible for Jesus to hang around with anything but sinners. Everyone sins. Everyone, but Jesus, has sinned. His disciples sinned. His mother sinned. The great saints of our faith have all sinned.
It's ironic really. The Pharisees wanted separation from sin. All they had to do was confess their sinfulness, repent of it and Jesus could make them free of it. All they ever needed was to admit that they were sinners, and not hide behind their robes and tassels, repetitious rituals and constant whitewashing of their tombs. They needed to admit that they needed Jesus. They needed to choose Jesus over their careers. They needed to pray for the sinners, not separate themselves from them, for if they did that, they'd be in turn praying for themselves as well.
"And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us"
Jesus was trying to help the Pharisees understand that they cannot know God by living in a bubble. His exhortations often busted their bubbles. Sometimes you've got to do it. If for no other reason than somewhere among them is a Paul who needs to get his eyes examined.